I'm Jo Ann Hakola, The Book Faerie, bookworm and bookseller. I have been selling books since January of 2000. It's a homebased business and I sell online only. Here is my website: http:www.bookfaerie.com I offer free shipping stateside.
It's a one woman endeavor, and I love working for myself. I have over 6,000 books online now.
I do book reviews from a reader's point-of-view and try to spread the magic of reading.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Manhattan Mayhem edited by Mary Higgins Clark

I grew up on mystery stories. My very favorite form of them is in short story. When I saw this book, I had to have it...Quirk Books sent me a copy to review (thank you). It has been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.There are seventeen stories in this book and they all are set in various Manhattan locations during different eras and different seasons. I've never been there but I have a good friend that lives there. Several of the photos in the book depicted parts of the town that I've seen on Christmas cards or photo tours online so it was a bit like visiting there. Most of the folks I met in this book I'd just as soon not meet in real person. Many of them were not nice people.Mary Higgins Clark has the first story in the book. It's called The Five-Dollar dress. It's a short tale with a whopper of an ending. A very subtle touch with a punch at the end.As in New York itself, the stories are populated with every nationality and every wage range you could imagine. Everybody does what they must to survive. Those who are weak, don't. One underlying theme here that I found interesting is that people with red hair aren't to be trusted. It's like it marks them as a bad person. Maybe it was only coincidental but I found it amusing.

The stories read quickly and are a fascinating look at times gone by. I was pleased to see that all the stories were different from anything I've read before. They kept me reading and wondering what was going to happen. A few of the authors are: Lee Child, Thomas H Cook, Jeffery Deaver, Margaret Maron, T Jefferson Parker and S J Rozan. With these names you know the stories have to be worth a read. You might even find some new authors to read. That's the fun of short stories.

This from another reviewer on Good Reads, Terry Lynn: The Five-Dollar Dress by Mary Higgins Clark: Jenny's Gran has died and the newly minted attorney went back to New York from San Francisco to empty out the apartment. Her grandmother's dying words were that "Barney didn't kill her. Vincent did." Jenny finds an old file of clippings her grandmother kept about the murder of an old friend who modeled a designer's dress that would be sold to women for $5 each back in 1949 who died in one of the dresses. When Jenny begins to investigate the cold case she discovers to her horror that the real killer of the 6 weeks pregnant model was way too close to home.

You might want to look it up on there and read more reviews individually. Or maybe someone else might chime in with their take on it!